Amazing Grace: On the “Sin Unto Death,” Jeremiah, and Intercessory Prayer; Part 2

The sins of Jerusalem

There are several parallels between Jeremiah 7 – 9 and 1 John. Both teach against murder —

(Jer 7:9-11 ESV) 9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known,  10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’–only to go on doing all these abominations?  11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the LORD.

(1Jo 3:15 ESV)  15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

Indeed, the penalty for hatred ( = murder) is death — the loss of eternal life.

Both condemn lying as deadly — if its lying borne of hatred for our brothers.

(Jer 9:4-5 ESV)  4 Let everyone beware of his neighbor, and put no trust in any brother, for every brother is a deceiver, and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer.  5 Everyone deceives his neighbor, and no one speaks the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves committing iniquity.

(1Jo 4:20-21 ESV)  20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.  21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

And both condemn a lack of knowledge of God —

(Jer 9:3 ESV)  3 They bend their tongue like a bow; falsehood and not truth has grown strong in the land; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, declares the LORD.

(1Jo 2:3-5a ESV)  3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.  4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,  5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected.

In fact, compare —

(Jer 31:33 ESV) or this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law [LXX: “understanding”] within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

(1Jo 5:20 ESV) 20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

1 John 5:20 is surely an allusion to Jer 31:33, which is a prophecy of God’s new covenant to be made after the end of the Exile.

Why not intercede?

And so it fits. John sees the Christians in Ephesus (the likely recipients of his epistle) as standing against a new idolatry — standing the gates of the temple that is the church, crying for repentance —

(Jer 7:1 ESV) The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

2 “Stand in the gate of the LORD’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the LORD. 3 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. 4 Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.'”

The church is only the temple of the LORD if it honors Jesus as God’s Messiah who has come in the flesh.

(1Jo 4:1 ESV) 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.

It’s not good enough to worship a spiritualized Jesus who was not incarnated. A false Jesus is not Jesus. And such worship is a rejection of the faith and therefore damns.

Falling away

You see, we are saved by faith in Jesus. But “faith” has certain essential elements. The Greek word translated “faith” includes submission or loyalty or faithfulness. “Repentance” is a near synonym for this element of faith.

But “faith” also includes trust — to trust that God will save us by our faith.

And “faith” includes to accept as true (and therefore to act accordingly) that Jesus is the Son of God and Messiah promised by the prophets.

When we confess that “Jesus is Lord,” we use language that evokes both submission to Jesus (he is my lord) and his Messiahship (God has made him Lord).

Therefore, we can fall away by rejecting any of these elements. If we reject God’s salvation as a free gift, insisting that it must be earned, we teach a false gospel and suffer under the condemnation of Galatians 1 – 5. If we reject Jesus as Messiah (who is necessarily incarnate), we fall away (1 John 4:2-3). If we rebel against Jesus as Lord to the point of becoming hard-hearted, we fall away (Heb 10:26-27).

All these are sins that lead to death. If someone is on the road to losing his faith in any of these ways, repentance is essential. Intercessory prayer for forgiveness would be futile. Prayer might be helpful — but not merely to ask for God’s forgiveness for our loved one. We need God to bring that person to his knees.

About Jay F Guin

My name is Jay Guin, and I’m a retired elder. I wrote The Holy Spirit and Revolutionary Grace about 18 years ago. I’ve spoken at the Pepperdine, Lipscomb, ACU, Harding, and Tulsa lectureships and at ElderLink. My wife’s name is Denise, and I have four sons, Chris, Jonathan, Tyler, and Philip. I have two grandchildren. And I practice law.
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2 Responses to Amazing Grace: On the “Sin Unto Death,” Jeremiah, and Intercessory Prayer; Part 2

  1. Brent says:

    Have any of you ever been so concerned for a brother or sister’s faith that you prayed for God to bring them down to their knees? Did God grant your request? How did it work out? Did it save them? Just wondering. Did you ever tell that person about your prayer?

  2. laymond says:

    Brent, I would never pray that a person be so injured, physically or spiritually. that their soul was brought to it’s knees. I would pray that a soul be so enlightened that they desired to be subservient to God and join in praise and worship of one greater than they. We should be grateful for things we have already received, as well as things looked forward to. The most important of which is life, a gift we have all been given, if not than we are not holding this conversation. I believe God says we should not count things physical, only spiritual. “Don’t lay up treasureson earth——-.”

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